"I knew an open-ended answer would open things up for some students to become playful but I was dealing with it was a lecture on quite complex genetics and I wanted to stimulate people to think openly."

Batterham said the anonymous function had its benefits as well as the ability to disguise jokesters.

"Back in the Flintstones days of teaching, I used to walk around the class with a microphone and ask questions," Batterham said.

"The thing about the mic is some students would just freeze up. With Socrative, you can submit answers anonymously and that opens things up to that more playful side but it also lets people answer seriously.